FRESNO, Calif. – McKendree University women's water polo saw its fourth period comeback fall short here Saturday afternoon as the Bearcats fell 14-10 to Cal State East Bay in the Western Water Polo Championship semifinals at the Fresno State Aquatics Center.
The Bearcats, who trailed 11-6 after three periods, scored four goals in the fourth quarter, but the Pioneers would score three goals of their own to keep the Bearcats at bay and seal its win to earn a spot in Sunday's championship game against Salem (W.Va.) University.
With the loss to Cal State East Bay, the Bearcats fall to 16-6 on the season and will face Biola University in Sunday's third place game of the WWPA Championships. The game will begin at 11:30 a.m. PT. Biola fell 16-11 in Saturday's other semifinal to Salem.
Leading the way offensively for McKendree in Saturday's game was senior center
Abigail Burton (Chino, Calif./Chino) as she tallied four goals, while freshman center
Sofia Dominguez (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson) added two goals and had two exclusions.
McKendree was outshot, 28-24, but led in exclusions, 14-7. Burton had nine shots, while graduate student utility player
Jaleh Moaddeli (Newport Beach, Calif./GWU) had six shots in the loss.
Cal State East Bay outscored the Bearcats, 4-3 in the first period, while also outscoring the Bearcats, 3-2, in the second period to take a 7-5 lead at the half.
The Pioneers used four straight goals in the third period to take an 11-5 lead, before the Bearcats began their comeback as Burton scored with 37 seconds left in the period to pull within 11-6.
After East Bay opened the fourth period with goals from Adrien Van Dyke and Leti Mosqueda to pull in front 13-6.
Following those goals, the Bearcats would score four of the final five goals, including Dominguez capping the scoring with two straight goals in the final 46 seconds of the game.
Mosqueda and Van Dyke combined for 11 goals for the Pioneers in the win.
Freshman
Sydney Kane (Bradley, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais), who was named to the WWPA All-Freshman Team on Thursday, played 24 minutes in goal and allowed 11 goals and recorded five saves and one steal.
Danielle Passoni and Brighton Kinney split time in goal for Cal State East Bay as they combined to allow 10 games and record seven saves.
GAME SUMMARY